Hi guys, on Monday the 26th we will be doing a presentation on Zora Neale Hurston´s Their Eyes Were Watching God
We recommend those of you who have not read the novel yet to watch the movie which you can find on YouTube, because we feel it is very faithful to the novel even though it´s not like reading the actual words.
We will be focusing our presentation on the storytelling aspects and style of writing that Zora Neale Hurston uses in this very unique novel.
For those of you who have had the privilege of reading the novel, you will have noticed the unique dialect that Hurston uses throughout the novel to represent the African American culture.
- We would like you to comment on this aspect, whether you enjoyed it, whether you found it difficult etc and why?
- We would also like you to comment on the following excerpt found in chapter 6 and how you think it shows (or not) the storytelling aspect and dialect present throughout the novel.
“Dat mule uh yourn, Matt. You better
go and see ´bout him. He´s bad off”
“where ´bout? Did he wade in de lake
and uh alligator ketch him?”
“Worser´n dat. De womenfolks got yo´mule. When
ah come round de lake ´bout noontime mah wife and some others had ´im flat on
de ground usin´ his sides fuh uh wash board.”
The great clap of laughter that they have been
holding in, bursts out. Sam never craks a smile. “Yeah, Matt, dat mule so
skinny till de women is usin´his rib bones fuh uh rub-board, and hangin´ things
out on his hock-bones tuh dry.
We hope you enjoyed the novel as much as we did and we look forward to your input,
Célia Raquel Pestana Martins
Samanta Teixeira de Mello
The dialect the author uses made it very hard for me to read it. In my mind, I kept trying to translate it to the English we are used to speak. It just made every page longer to read. I didn't enjoy this way of writing. When it's just a little it's ok, but this was too much for me.
ResponderEliminarAnnabelle Frérou
47716
When I started reading the novel the dialect used by the author kept making me reread sentences to make sure I got the right word and meaning, and it did confuse me for a while but after the first chapter it began to make sense and her writing started being more natural to me. I could now perfectly portray the characters and their accents in my mind as if they were talking right next to me. It is confusing but otherwise I wouldn't have been able to imagine the way they spoke and how they would sound if we could actually hear their voices and notice the accent - it helps making the story more realistic and gives us an accurate portrayal of their dialect and idioms.
ResponderEliminarTeresa Garrocho
46056
Excellent questions. Forgive me if I don’t bother answering any of them, as I still have to finish the novel. Reading about the author, though, I found that Hurston actually had not only great skill as a writer, but a life and an experience and a perspective that was fascinating. This in itself I find very interesting. I believe there’s a conscientious political choice on Hurston’s part to take the main character, Janie, on a painful flip through the pages of the catalogue of hardship black women of her time were doomed to suffer in their lives. The way the novel was received, even in black literary circles, by her black male peers (if she had any), reeks of condescending criticism to me, as I’m sure some would wish the author could have demurely steered away from some of the themes presented in the novel, glossing over black female tribulations and their history of oppression at the hands of black (not just white) men, even denying them their right to self. This novel, however, wasn’t ever meant to be that sort of tale. Sure, there’s humour in it, because you’ve got to squeeze in your laughs wherever you can, but most of it you read with a clenched heart and exactly this much I can say: Janie’s entered my world. And she’ll never leave.
ResponderEliminarNuno Miguel Lopes
I believe Hurston’s choice of colloquial black “dialect” in this novel reflects a literary proactive raise of one’s middle finger to those who spend a lifetime (generations, actually), belittling others based on the way they talk. They mistake idiosyncratic speech for ignorance, somehow finding in it proof of one culture’s inferiority to another and treating it with the disdain which they, in their ignorance, believe it deserves. Hurston would have none of that and her characters are much more real for it. There’s pride in it, too. The author took pride in their history, their roots and where they came from, and it shows in the way she has made them talk (one could almost say “sing”). This isn't something to leave behind. It's something to be held up triumphantly in the face of monochrome cultural standardization.
ResponderEliminarWriting the characters’ speech in “corrected” white man English would spoil the song of their unique voices and experiences which are at the heart of the novel. We can almost listen to the characters breathe, testing the absolute boundaries of their own language, feeling completely at home in it. It reads like live speech, as if not written down at all. A glimpse of a word reduced to the very sound of it, to the phonemes, all of which incrementally builds up into the whole.
Hurston would not win any spelling bee contest but she surely drove her point home, all the while making a stand. It may be just a small one, nothing dramatic, simply a reminder to any cultural watchdog of her time that this author, at least, wasn’t quite ready to hand over the reins of her own culture to those who knew nothing about it. I cannot deem it too difficult a read, but rather a joyful one.
Nuno Miguel Lopes
Similar to Teresa’s experience the first approach while reading the novel was difficult but after a few pages, the reader gets used to the language and style of writing Hurston employs. Although at the beginning not always easy to read and understand the dialect spoken by the several characters, this aspect was certainly a way on reinforcing the afro- American culture and the value of each dialect and way of speaking. With this choice, Hurston offers a new perspective of the life among afro- Americans, which was new at this time.
ResponderEliminarThe above mentioned excerpt of chapter 6 is an excellent example for the common dialogue situations throughout the novel which do represent on of the most characteristic aspects of ”Their eyes were watching God”.
above comment is from Aurea Patricio N° 44920
ResponderEliminarÁurea, please try to be more attentive next time. I believe you have not once posted a comment with your name in it, but always need an extra post to sign, isn't it?
EliminarLike in many other books, it takes some time to get a hold of the way the author writes. As the other colleagues mentioned there was a 'shock' at first, but as one proceeds it gets easier and easier. And although it is a shock, it really helps emphasizing the difference between the common english and the dialect, the distance between the two kinds of people mentioned in the novel. It helps passing the message that I think the author wanted to pass. It also makes the novel richer, more realistic, more passionate, proudful even; and it brings the reader closer to this reality. This constant use of the dialect also makes it easier for us to create an image more faithful to the whole novel and the time/people it so well describes.
ResponderEliminarLuís Pires - 46654
It was, honestly, very hard to read at first. It took a lot of time to digest it all, and I found myself locked for minutes on end in one single sentence, trying figure out what one particular word meant or what was suppose to be it's original word in the english language, before the cultural alteration that led to the appearance of that particular dialect.
ResponderEliminarI guess that it is even harder for us, since we are not native english speakers. I think it's a bit like the dialect from the Azores and Madeira island for us. It's different in so many aspects from the portuguese we are used to... Not only in the pronunciation of the words but also in grammatical aspects and even in the vocabulary, since a lot of them have particular words that are unfamiliar to us. And yet, we understand them almost immediately. It's normal for a language to produce different dialects due to it's evolution through time and geographical positions, but it's always easier for the native speakers to adapt to it.
Even if it takes a while to understand someone from Madeira talking, we get use to it almost immediately and when they say some word we are not familiar with, we can quickly make a mental association of the overall sentence context and meaning and figure out the significance of the unknown expression.
The same happens with this book, although it is much harder for us than it would be for an american citizen. I'd bet it would be equally difficult for an english person to read a book in portuguese with the madeira dialect in it. Or any other portuguese dialect, from that matter.
I do, however, consider it essential to keep the essence of the culture, time and location mentioned in the book. If you want to stay loyal to the story you are telling, sacrifices like this are needed. It only takes a while to get use to it, and once you are on a roll it starts to come naturally to you.
I think it's a plus, a great way for us to learn the tricky parts of the language, and be even more inserted in it and it's history.
It was a wonderful book and a very heartfelt plot. The reality of it brings you closer to each character and their true nature, something I'm sure wouldn't be achieved without this type of insight on their ways of talking. When studying literature, like us, it's important to pay attention to details like this, even if, at first, we consider it an obstacle in our path.
Filipa Vieira, nº 46566
Your (understandable) reading difficulties could have been lessened if you read a few pages aloud, since Hurston transcribes the dialect phonetically, as Nuno has underlined. This strategy is not employed merely to strengthen verisimilitude and to render the character's personalities, but it also works as a political statement commenting on the hegemonic discourse. The novel was written in the context of the Harlem Renaissance.
ResponderEliminarTo me personally it wasn't all that hard to read the dialogue in "black speak" since i'm pretty familiar with the particularities of the many cultural axioms of the minorities in the US and the stereotypes that come with them. I'm not saying it was as easy as reading every other type of dialogue but when i read the preface by Zadie Smith i knew what i was in for in terms of comprehending the dialogues between the characters. I didn't have to read it aloud like Professor Diana suggested but merely visualized the dialogue in my mind, as if i were watching a movie. That and the fact i know how Americans perceive the phonetical alphabet all i had to do was "convert" myself to think (and read) like an American and it came to me naturally. As far as Zora Neale Hurston's approach to writting and style of narrative it aims (just as the choice of employing use of african-american dialect) to strike at the sensibility of the world, but mainly at white readers, with the underlying intention of bringing to light the experience of a black person's life first hand, while applying some cultural nuances as a means to emphasize the satirical aspect of the narrative.
ResponderEliminarAndré Gomes nº45352
Hello,
ResponderEliminarlike many have said, yes, the dialect makes it quite hard for any of us to read. But that's the point, right? we have to try hard to understand what the characters are saying, which, to me, means we have to also understand their difficulties.
are you going to talk about the period this was written in? it was written in the Harlem Renaissance, right? so, how does this piece fit in that period?
do you think this is still current in some aspects?
Oh boy, I have many questions... sorry!
Neuza Machado 44980
In the first pages I struggled a little, but I actually read it out loud and it helped. Also movies, whose action is placed in the South, pre- or post-Civil War, also helped, mostly the most recent ones, because they remain very true to the essence and historical references of the African American community.
ResponderEliminarAs for the excerpt it depicts perfectly the dialogue tone throughout the novel.
Madalena Athayde - 44440